Homemade Matzoh for Passover
Passover began a couple of days ago, and there’s still time to make your own matzoh. My fabulous Granny in Shanghai always bought matzoh for Pesach. Everybody did. Who would ever spend the time making this unleavened bread when there was so much more cooking to be done during Passover week?
What is matzoh? It’s a crunchy flatbread, a big cracker, that’s always served as part of a Seder meal during Passover. The bread, recounted in Excodus, sustained the Jews in their escape from Egyptian slavery to freedom. Made by mixing flour and water and baked before any fermentation can begin, matzoh symbolizes the haste with which the Jews fled.
Today, matzoh is widely available in supermarkets. It’s a wonderful multipurpose flatbread. You can eat it plain or put just about anything you like on it. Break the matzoh into pieces and use it to scoop up chopped chicken liver, hummus, egg or tuna salad, or top it with soft cheese, deli meats, or whatever you like. As a kid, I always buttered my matzoh and ate the whole square, slowly nibbling my way to the center.
My longtime friend, Cindy Klotz, always bakes matzoh for Passover. To be truly kosher, matzoh must go into a very hot oven within 18 minutes of the water coming into contact with the flour. No fermentation of the dough must be allowed to happen, and 18 minutes has been determined to be the limit before the dough hits the heat of the oven.
Cindy taught me her way of making matzoh, and that’s how I’ve been making it for many years. The matzoh is round, shatteringly crisp, and full of bubbles. It’s so much fun to eat that it’s hard to stop.
Other than eating the matzoh as is, I like frying it. Matzoh Brei (fried matzoh) is great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And you could make it with store-bought matzoh if you want.
Before getting to the recipe, here’s a picture showing a ball of the dough and a rolled out matzoh.
The size difference is pretty amazing and quite thrilling to behold.
Matzoh
Makes 10 wafer-thin matzohs
The matzohs turn out like super crisp, ultra-thin crackers with bubbly brown spots all over. Eat them over a plate.
I’ve found the easiest and best way to roll the matzohs is on a canvas pastry cloth. The cloth absorbs the flour and gives traction to the dough so that it stays put as you roll it. And you will get super thin matzohs.
1 3/4 cups (9 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour (dip and sweep), plus more for kneading and rolling
3/4 cup (6 ounces) room temperature water, plus more if needed
1. If using a baking stone, adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and set the stone on the rack. If using a baking sheet, set a large baking sheet (18 x 12 x 1-inch) on the rack. Preheat the oven to 450˚F at least 45 minutes before baking.
2. Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and gradually stir in the 3/4 cup water to make a firm, slightly sticky dough. At first the dough will look shaggy, but as more water is incorporated into the flour, the dough gathers into a mass. If the dough doesn’t gather all together, work in droplets of additional water. Knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes in the bowl, adding flour if necessary, to make a firm, slightly sticky dough. Divide the dough into 10 even pieces, roll them into balls, and set them on a floured surface to rest, covered with a kitchen towel, for 10 minutes.
3. Rub flour into your pastry cloth and have a bowl of flour nearby. Coat a ball of dough with flour and pat it out to a roughly-shaped circle about 4 inches across. Dust again with flour, and roll from the center of the dough radiating outward with quick strokes of the pin. Turn the dough over once or twice and keep rolling until the dough is very thin, about 1/32-inch-thick and 9 to 10 inches across. This dough is a dream to roll. It will not retract. Brush off excess flour with a pastry brush. Lift the dough onto the peel or 3-sided cookie sheet lined with parchment, prick it all over with a fork, and slide the matzoh onto the baking stone or baking sheet. Bake anywhere from 3 to 4 minutes, until the matzoh has pale brown-tinged bubbles all over the surface. The dough between the bubbles should remain white or a pale cream color; it should not brown.
4. Remove the matzoh with kitchen tongs and set it on a wire rack to cool. Remove the parchment to use for subsequent matzos. While one matzoh bakes, roll and prick the next one. In this way, you will have 10 matzohs in about 30 minutes.
4. Storing. When cool, store matzohs at room temperature in a brown paper bag with the top rolled down. In a dry environment, the matzohs will stay crisp and crackly for several days.
Here’s a plate of Matzoh Brei:
For two servings:
In a 10-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. When hot, stir in 1 cup diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onions are golden and browned around the edges. While the onions cook, beat 4 large eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a few grindings of black pepper in a medium bowl with a fork to combine well. Stir in an herb of your choice (I leave the amount to you). I used Thai basil. Chopped fresh rosemary, thyme or oregano are excellent. Break 2 matzohs (homemade or commercial) into uneven pieces about 1 1/2 inches in size, right into the eggs. Fold together with a heatproof spatula and let stand 5 minutes to soften the matzoh slightly. Add to the skillet with the onion and cook and fold everything together until the eggs are as set as you like them, no more than 2 minutes. The eggs should be creamy. Divide between two plates, garnish with a dab of sour cream, if you like, and a sprig of the herb you included with the eggs. Serve immediately.
Happy Matzoh!
I first read of Matzh Brei in Ruth Reichl's book Garlic and Sapphires. It will be a fun dish to make for my Son-in-law's birthday. His Mother is Jewish. It will be amazing to pull it off with homemade matzoh!